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Battle of Solon
The Battle of Solon was fought between forces of the Republic of Haven Navy (RHN) and Task Force 82 of the Royal Manticoran Navy (RMN). The Solon system was targeted for a deep raid by the RMN as part of Operation Cutworm III. Admiral Honor Harrington (RMN) was ambushed by forces led by Admiral Javier Giscard. The battle featured the first use of the RHN's new Tarantula and Moriarty system-defence platforms. (HH11) Order of Battle Republic of Haven Navy (RHN) The Solon system appeared to be defended by a few clusters of missile pods and a small group of ships, but thanks to the Tarantula system, Admiral Giscard had an ambush task group including eighteen superdreadnought pod-layers and six carriers waiting in hyper. Details * Solon system-defence fleet, commanded by Rear Admiral Emile Deutscher, stationed near the planet Arthur ** two superdreadnoughts (pre-pod) ** seven battlecruisers ** one hundred and ninety LACs * Moriarty platform, in orbit around Arthur * Tarantula network, with stations at Arthur and the planet Merlin * Missile pod deployments around Arthur and the moons of Merlin * Forces led by Admiral Javier Giscard, split evenly into three task groups ** eighteen superdreadnought pod-layers SD(P)s *** RHNS Sovereign of Space, Giscard's flagship, commanded by Captain Marius Gozzi *** RHNS Conquete ** six CLACs Royal Manticoran Navy (RMN) Hoping to destroy system resources as part of Operation Cutworm III, Admiral Harrington had brought two superdreadnought pod-layers, six carriers, assorted escorts and a group of the new Agamemnon-class pod-laying battlecruisers. Two destroyers had been scouting the system under stealth in order to identify potential threats. Details * Task Force 82 (part of Eighth Fleet) led by Admiral Honor Harrington ** Two destroyers *** HMS Ambuscade commanded by Commander Estwicke *** HMS Rifleman ** Two superdreadnought pod-layers *** HMS Imperator, Harrington's flag ship, commanded by Admiral Andrea Jaruwalski *** HMS Intolerant, first division CO Rear Admiral Allen Morowitz's flagship ** Six CLAC carriers, led by Vice Admiral Samuel Miklos *** HMS Succubus, Miklos's flagship *** HMS Unicorn ** Six Heavy cruisers *** HMS Star Ranger, HMS Blackstone, HMS Necromancer ** Eight Light cruisers *** HMS Fury, HMS Buckler, HMS Atum, HMS Tisphone, HMS Samurai, HMS Clotho ** Battlecruisers, led by Admiral Michelle Henke *** HMS Ajax, Henke's flagship *** HMS Priam, HMS Petrocles Course of Battle Summary Shortly after moving her forces in-system, Admiral Harrington was ambushed by Admiral Giscard's forces which had been waiting in hyper for a signal from the new Tarantula platforms. Giscard’s forces surrounded Harrington’s, and after several large missile pod volleys, surprised Harrington by launching over 17,000 missiles from pods that had been laid by battlecruisers, under the fire control of the new Moriarty system. Harrington's forces were badly damaged, but she managed to get half of her forces out of the system, with the notable exception being the battlecruiser commanded by Michelle Henke, which due to damage was unable to go to hyper, nor abandon ship. Full Version Following the successes of Operation Cutworm and Operation Cutworm II, Operation Cutworm III targeted the Solon system. Two destroyers scouted the system prior to the arrival of Admiral Harrington’s Task Force 82, and discovered a light system defence fleet around the planet Arthur, and groups of missile pods arranged around the Arthur and near the planet Merlin. Upon arrival, TF 82’s CLACs launched all it's LACs, and Admiral Miklos's CLACs remained at the system hyper-limit with one wing of LACs from HMS Unicorn and three light cruisers (HMS Tisphone, Samurai, and Clotho) for escort. Unbeknown to Harrington, the light system forces (designated Bogey one by TF 82) were a ruse to entice her forces to enter the system so they could be trapped by Admiral Giscard's forces, which were being coordinated by the new Tarantula platforms. Tarantula allowed Giscard's ambush task group to sit in hyper and wait for the signal to attack, similar to what Harrington had done at the Battle of Sidemore. Upon the discovery that FTL comms were originating from both Arthur and Merlin (from the Tarantula platforms), Harrington suspected some kind of coordinated trap, and ordered her CLACs and escorts to hyper out to safety. Three task groups of RHN ships translated out of hyper and surrounded Harrington's units. Bogey two from system north, Bogey three from system south and Bogey four from astern. Each task group consisted of six superdreadnoughts and two CLACs, plus screens. Bogey four, led by Giscard, fired the first shot at TF 82 with 12,000 missiles over 11 salvos, mainly targeted at HMS Imperator and HMS Intolerant. Thanks to the new Keyhole II platforms and the fact that most of the LACs were Katanas, over 8200 counter-missiles were fired, resulting in no missiles getting into attack range. This was followed up by a single salvo of 11,000 missiles, targeted at both superdreadnoughts and battlecruisers, of which 269 managed to hit, resulting in heavy damage to HMS Intolerant as well as the death of Admiral Morowitz. Battlecruisers HMS Star Ranger and HMS Ajax also sustained hits, although Ajax only suffered light damage. TF 82 responded with a salvo that targeted RHNS Conquete, causing moderate damage. Final volleys from both sides caused major damage to HMS Intolerant and RHNS Conquete. At this point Bogey four had pretty much exhausted it's supply of missile pods. Having outrun Bogey four, and passing by the extreme edge of Bogey three’s engagement envelope, Harrington moved Henke's battlecruisers so that they were between HMS Intolerant and the cluster of missile pods positioned near the planet Arthur. At this point Admiral Deutscher, who had been using Bogey one’s battlecruisers to lay pods, ordered the activation of the Moriarty platform. The platform coordinated the launch and fire-control of over 17,000 missiles from both Bogey one’s pods and the pods in orbit around Arthur. In response Harrington fired salvoes from the pods of both superdreadnoughts and the Agamemnon-class battlecruiser pod-layers. Thanks to the control provided by Moriarty, very few RHN missiles lost telemetry, and even though thousands were intercepted by missile defences, over 1600 survived to attack TF 82. HMS Intolerant was completely obliterated, as were three light cruisers, two battlecruisers, and 211 LACs. Two heavy cruisers were turned into wrecks, and the battlecruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Necromancer suffered heavy damage to their impeller rings, with Ajax also suffering damage to her boat-bays, preventing evacuation. HMS Imperator also suffered minor hits. In return TF 82 destroyed two of Bogey one’s battlecruisers and heavily damaged a superdreadnought. With heavy damage slowing them down, TF 82 was in danger of being overtaken by Bogey two and Bogey three. With coordination from the scout destroyers, Admiral Miklos hypered in his CLACs to recover the surviving LACs, and the survivors of TF 82 (with the notable exception of HMS Ajax) hypered out, pursued by Bogey three. HMS Ajax was last seen being pounded by a volley from Bogey two, and was destroyed, presumably with all hands lost. Later it was discovered that some personnel, including Michelle Henke, had managed to board a pinnace and were captured after the ship was destroyed. Forces Lost RHN * two battlecruisers * two superdreadnoughts heavily damaged (including RHNS Conquete) RMN Preliminary numbers * one superdreadnought pod-layer (HMS Intolerant) * 38% of the light cruisers, including HMS Fury, HMS Buckler and HMS Atum * half the heavy cruisers including HMS Star Ranger, HMS Blackstone and HMS Necromancer * 60% of the battlecruisers including HMS Priam, HMS Petrocles and HMS Ajax * two hundred and eleven LACs Aftermath Admiral Giscard was offered the Congressional Cross, although he refused to accept it. He agreed instead to accept the thanks of Congress. Giscard considered the Cross to be too important an award to be given for political reasons. Pleased with the performance of Tarantula and Moriarty, Secretary of War Theisman ordered the deployment of Moriarty platforms elsewhere in the Republic to help bolster system defences and free up ships for the front-line. Category:Battles Category:Havenite Battles Category:Manticoran Battles